Verizon 4G Network to Launch Sunday — Verizon Wireless announced on Wednesday that it will launch its 4G network on Sunday in 38 markets across the United States. — The company had shared most of its plans ahead of time. One of the unknowns, though, was what Verizon would charge for the service.

Google Set to Launch E-Book Venture — Google Inc. is in the final stages of launching its long-awaited e-book retailing venture, Google Editions, a move that could shake up the way digital books are sold. — The long-delayed venture—Google executives had said they hoped to launch this summer …

Google Gambit for Groupon Raises Concerns — Google's $6 billion bid for Groupon, an online coupon start-up, is an aggressive move by the company to dominate local online advertising and help with its long-sought move into social networking. — Google has offered Groupon $5.3 billion …

Coming Soon: Groupon Stores and the Deal Feed — This summer, we launched personalization to bring you deals that better suit your interests. We weren't about to stop there - today, we're giving you a sneak peak of some new stuff that will bring you even more deals you love: Groupon Stores and the Deal Feed.

Netflix Boosts Streaming Catalog With First-Run Movies — Netflix announced today that it has signed a multi-year deal with newly-formed film distribution company FilmDistrict to bring first-run films to its streaming catalog. — Last week, Netflix introduced a streaming-only subscription plan …

Race Is On to ‘Fingerprint’ Phones, PCs — IRVINE, Calif.—David Norris wants to collect the digital equivalent of fingerprints from every computer, cellphone and TV set-top box in the world. — He's off to a good start. So far, Mr. Norris's start-up company, BlueCava Inc., has identified 200 million devices.

IBM Claims Breakthrough in Laser-Based Chips — A race to transform computers with laser-based communications is accelerating, with International Business Machines Corp. the latest to claim breakthroughs in chips that send data at blazing speeds using pulses of light.

RIM sues Kik for patent infringement — If you've been following BlackBerry news lately, you know that Kik Messenger was booted out of the Blackberry app store by RIM on Nov 12, for “breaching contractual obligations”. — Kik is an in instant messaging service, much like RIM's BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

Kindle Feels iPad's Heat, Sees E-Reader Lead Going Up in Smoke — When Apple CEO Steve Jobs first announced the company's new iBookstore and iBooks application for the iPad back in January, he said that while Amazon had done a great job with its Kindle e-book reader, Apple planned to “stand on their shoulders and go a little further.”

BlackBerry Mobile Internet Use Overtakes Apple In US — Website analytics provider StatCounter has published a new report showing that for the first time since its starting collecting mobile internet data, RIM's BlackBerry OS overtook Apple's iOS in terms of mobile internet usage …

WikiLeaks website, pummeled by attacks, loses home — NEW YORK — The website of WikiLeaks, the organization that just released a trove of sensitive U.S. State Department documents, appears to have lost or left its main Web host, Amazon.com. The main website and a sub-site devoted …

Inside the Wild, Wacky, Profitable World of Boing Boing — Happy Mutants: From left, Mark Frauenfelder, David Pescovitz, “band manager” John Battelle, Cory Doctorow, and Xeni Jardin | It's eccentric. It's unprofessional. And it makes money. How four people who do exactly what they want run …

What Social Signals Do Google & Bing Really Count? — Both Google and Bing have added many social search features over the past year. There's also been talk about using “social signals” to help rank regular search results. But are either of the major search engines actually using those social signals to rank regular search results?

From signed up to satisfied — Getting new users is easy; keeping them is hard. Join Intercom co-founder Des Traynor as he explains how to bridge the gap between a company's initial traction and sustained success.